Lunch with Tom Hall

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ZidaneA
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Lunch with Tom Hall

Post by ZidaneA »

So I'm on vacation in the US, and today it became the ultimate vacation. Today I had lunch with Tom Hall. Yes, the Tom Hall.

Why? A few weeks ago my father noticed that we would be passing the village where Tom lives, and I simply asked if we could met and just say hi. He offered to do lunch with me. Dream coming true? Yes.

Do not expect any news, or supermuch Keen-related information in this post. (move thread to misc. if more suitable. Don't care)

He's a very very nice dude, good sense of humor and interesting to talk with. I could only see him for one and a half hour though cuz I had to go to San Fransisco with my family... Oh well. I'd like to meet him again some day.

He told me a little bit of this and a little bit of that. (I didn't know "Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringment" started out as internjoke and was made during just one night. Maybe you did. I did not.)

I guess you're most interested in what he had to say about Keen.. and well, he said that the character Commander Keen pretty much is an exaggerated version of himself. (we pretty much knew that though not to what extent)
That being said, Keens skincolor is NOT white - it's the very same skincolor as himself. (remember reading a discussion about that here on the forums a few years back)

He mentioned a few other things we already kinda knew, like the TUIT paralax-engine, Commander Keen sources and that stuff.
Did you know that not only Princess Lindsey, but also the Berkeloid from The Secret of the Oracle was based upon fanletters they got during production of the earlier Keen games? Apparently, some dude named Berk (or something like that) send a letter where he told the team he had a dream about Commander Keen fighting some kind of fire-monster who threw fire at him. Tom said he might upload these letters and other stuff on the internet.

I reminded him of the community, and I also asked if Tom had played any Keen mods, and he's actually played Keen 7. He was amazed at by how much work and love was put in the game, he thought it was really good and was impressed by the team.

I'm very tired right now and I don't really remember every single detail from our conversation. If you got questions, do ask.

Here's pic-proof:
http://twitter.com/Zid_StillEcho/status ... to/1/large

Oh, and he also gave me his personal Anachronox-related keychain-bottleopener.
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Paramultart
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Post by Paramultart »

SOOOOOOO AWESOME!!! So happy for you! Congratulations!!! :D

Mr. Hall is one heck of a guy to do lunch with a fan just on a whim like that! So flippin' cool, I'm at a loss of words!
Congratulations again!

I'm sure this is one vacation you will never forget! :D
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Mr. 314
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Post by Mr. 314 »

:O simply awesome! he seems like a real decent bloke to do that.

oh, and a bottle opener...something to tell the kids about :D
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Spikenexus
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Post by Spikenexus »

That sounds awesome! Had you ever spoken to Tom prior to the lunch invitation? Either way, like Para said, its pretty classy of him to meet up with a fan like that.
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Post by GolfHacker »

Wow. Just... wow.

My respect for him just went up another 10 notches (and it was already pretty high). Thanks for sharing that - VERY COOL!!!
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Post by KeenRush »

:eek Damn, that's so amazing. :dead2 Respect (for both). If I'm ever seeing any of the US I hope I can see him too. Well done!
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Post by ckguy »

KeenRush wrote:If I'm ever seeing any of the US I hope I can see him too.
Haha the famous landmarks of the United States: the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, Tom Hall.

This is amazing, ZidaneA. I've lived in the same country as Tom Hall for nearly 23 years and haven't managed to have any meals with him. :p That Q&A thing last month, and then this now - I hope these encourage him to - "interface" is the word I'm looking for maybe? - encourage him to interface more with the Keen community. Also that's really neat that he played the Keys of Krodacia. I don't know what else to say right now that wouldn't make me sound like a blithering fangirl or a 'come on where's the keen source' douche.

So um this is awesome. Keep on keening.
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troublesomekeen
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Re: Lunch with Tom Hall

Post by troublesomekeen »

ZidaneA wrote: That being said, Keens skincolor is NOT white - it's the very same skincolor as himself. (remember reading a discussion about that here on the forums a few years back)
How very interesting. I always wondered about that because the Keen's arm appears to be a pale skin-colored arm, yet in-game he appears to be an albino. I'm assuming that that long and very horizontal bar of white, gray and red is Keen's arm, since that's where the wrist computer is.
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I sure hope Tom uploads these letters. That would be cool ^^
Very awesome to hear Tom played Keen7. I hope he has time to play the rest of the awesome mods. What an amazing feeling that must be to know that Tom played one of your very own mods.
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Nothing I can really say that hasn't already been said. Just Congratulations, Hip hip hooray, and my mind has been thoroughly blown. It's awesome that he's finally playing the UTUIT mods and really coming out of his shell. This reminds me that Megatrip's "Let's fight to make TUIT happen NOW ARRRRGGGHG!" thread is in dire need of bumping.
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Post by Paramultart »

To be honest, there was a point where I was slightly worried Tom didn't care much about his fan base; however, this, alongside his and Romero's recent decision to release a slew of ancient Keen goodness just for the sake of pleasing the fans, thoroughly disprove that.

Seeing a man of his success taking the time out of his busy schedule to play Keen mods and even dine with fans is inspiring to say the least.

Tom Hall isn't just one of the greatest game designers of all time, he's just an all-around good guy.

I jumped up and down with joy and told everyone I knew when he simply wrote "Happy Birthday" on my Facebook wall... I can't even imagine having a DATE with the man! Congratulations again, Ziddy!

That being said, I can't WAIT for those Keen sources and other Keen related goodies!!!

Also, massive respect to Romero for following through with the release of the TUIT engine, and for being so awesome, et cetera. :D

I sincerely hope they take Lootdrop into a more artistic direction and make games similar to the ones they used to make.
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Post by Eurysilas »

Wait a minute....What TUIT engine? I wasn't aware progress on the trilogy ever got beyond the initial planning stages! 0-0

That being said, I find it thoroughly awesome that Tom Hall has played Keys of Krodacia. He would be blown away by DitD and BotB! I know I was, which is why I still fully intend to help with any revisions.

I still feel kinda sorry for Romero. That Ion Storm fiasco....He never did recover, from what I can see. And I really do think it wasn't malicious intent or anything that caused it to all come tumbling down. He was just given too much all at once.
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Post by Mr. 314 »

Eurysilas wrote:Wait a minute....What TUIT engine? I wasn't aware progress on the trilogy ever got beyond the initial planning stages! 0-0.
yeahyeahyeah!! what the hell is going on here!? What TUIT engine!?

and yes it is awesome that he played KoK :) he'd really get a kick out of it i'm sure
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ZidaneA
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Post by ZidaneA »

Thank you everybody! :D

Spikenexus: Hmm.. Not really. He congratulated me on my birthday on Facebook, and on his last birthday I congratulated him and posted a picture of a Dopefish-cake me and some friends made when we were like 12 years old.

ckguy: I hope so too!

Troublesomekeen: Well, the reason he's white in the game is because the graphicengine don't support enough colors.

Eurysilas and Mr. 314: The TUIT engine is pretty much like the Goodbye Galaxy engine but with backgroundparalaxing.
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Post by VikingBoyBilly »

I don't care what God says! Commander Keen is white and that's final!
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Post by Commander Spleen »

I forgot to mention this is a slightly the coolest thing ever.

The unfinished TUIT engine was something Romero mentioned when we grilled him with questions during his brief visit to the IRC channel back near the end of 2010. He recently confirmed its existence and his intention to eventually release it.
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